Giles, Meet Sam
by lindseyjo
Summary: Our favorite Watcher meets our favorite Major... For August Ficathon at TtH. Xover with Stargate SG1 postChosen. No spoilers.
1. At the Holiday Inn

For the August Fic-a-day Ficathon, and hopefully the beginning of some TtH100 ficlets as well….

I don't own anything below other than the idea. Giles and Sam belong to Buffy and Stargate, respectively. No profit made, other than my satisfaction.

Post-"Chosen", but no real spoilers; haven't decided where exactly this fits in Stargate—if at all.

At the Holiday Inn

Rupert Giles, head of the new Watchers Council, managed to make it to the hotel's continental breakfast ten minutes before it closed. The tiny dining room was a mess—tables covered with other patrons' leavings, chairs knocked over, coffee spilled everywhere. He shook his head as he entered the room, something crunchy grinding beneath the heel of his shoe.

'Looks like a demon attacked the place,' he mused. 'No, I'm wrong—it's just an inexpensive American hotel in this poor excuse for a city. I ask again, where are these "springs" of Colorado?'

As he was gathering a plain muffin, jam, and hot water for his tea, he heard another set of footsteps crunching in behind him. Giles heard the sniff of disgust and smiled. 'Mustn't be an American,' he thought to himself. 'Only an American would be able to dismiss this room as anything less than an abomination to civilization as we know it.' He turned around, and nearly dropped his tray.

The woman surveying the wreck of the dining room was not quite as tall as Giles himself, even in her heels. She was also very blonde, and extremely beautiful. Her blue eyes took in the room, and then took in the Watcher and ex-librarian as well. The piercing gaze made his knees seem amazingly, and quite suddenly, wobbly beyond repair.

The only thing which saved Giles' from the humiliation of his buckling knees was the realization that this bewitchingly stunning woman, who was now smiling in his direction, was wearing a military uniform. The traitorous knees firmed up nicely, and he rather frostily returned her smile.

"Dr. Yates?" the woman asked, striding forward, hand outstretched. "I'm Major Samantha Carter. I'm here to take you out to the base."

Giles took a step back, bumping up against the soggy breakfast bar. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, Major," he replied, a hint of a smirk at the corner of his mouth. "I'm Dr. Giles, not Dr. Yates."

The major stopped walking and a frown appeared on her face. "But I was told—"

The sound of someone slipping on the tile in the hotel lobby interrupted her, followed by a loud, American-accented, curse. The owner of both noises appeared shortly thereafter and approached Major Carter with a fast shuffling gait.

"Major Cartwright, I'm SO sorry I'm late!" the small, roundish man exclaimed, grasping and shaking her hand as though she were a life preserver. "Everything went completely wrong this morning—from the second I woke up! You just wouldn't believe this hotel—and the other guests they let stay here are just…"

He led the major away, talking rapidly, and Giles was left on his own once again. He sighed, cleared off a table for himself, and sat down. Just as he took the teabag out of his mug, he heard familiar footsteps. He looked up to see Major Carter gazing at him from the doorway.

"I wish you were Dr. Yates—that man hasn't gotten my name right yet, and I've corrected him three times. I need more caffeine to deal with this one."

Giles felt his jaw drop open as the major quickly poured herself a cup of coffee. She put a travel lid on the cup, toasted him silently with a wry grin, and disappeared the way she'd come.

"Remarkable," Giles murmured. He realized he'd spoken aloud, looked around to find himself still alone, and shook his head. "Quite remarkable."


	2. At the Savoy

August 5th entry for the Fic-a-Day Ficathon

"Giles, Meet Sam" – Part 2 (continued from Aug 1st entry!)

I own nothing of Giles (BtVS) or Sam (Stargate: SG1); this is a ficlet from which I will NOT be making any profit. Darn it…

Post-"Chosen", and sometime when Sam is still a major.

At the Savoy

Major Samantha Carter stepped out of the elevator and into the extremely grand lobby of the Savoy Hotel in London. She tugged at her leather jacket, feeling almost naked without her uniform. The only thing that made her feel safe was the small pistol in its holster beneath the jacket. This clandestine meeting with a particular contact of Daniel's had been Jack's idea; without the information this man had, she knew they'd never translate the tablet SG9 had brought back before that planet dissolved into a planetary war.

Sam crossed the lobby of the hotel, heading into the dining room. Daniel's contact had insisted on this hotel for their meeting place; something about it being more suspicious if he were to book into any hotel less "posh" than this one. Apparently he was the head of a rather illustrious organization, but that was all Daniel—and therefore Sam—knew. She didn't even know the man's name.

'So I get to hang out here for a couple of days,' Sam mused, scanning the crowded dining room for alternate exits and suspicious-looking people. 'No team full of boys, a whirlpool bathtub big enough to swim laps, 500-count sheets, and a complimentary bathrobe. Not a bad mission.'

The restaurant's host, wearing a crisp black tuxedo, approached Sam and gave her a slight bow. "Welcome to the Savoy Restaurant, madame. Do you have a reservation?"

Sam nodded. "It's under the name of Fawkes; I'm meeting someone."

The host didn't even look at his reservation list. "Yes, madame. Your party has already arrived. If you would follow me, please."

Sam let the man lead her back further into the restaurant, still checking out the other diners as she passed each table. The only table which caught her attention was in the back of the restaurant, where a man sat by himself drinking tea. Sam frowned; he looked familiar, but she couldn't remember why. To her consternation, the host approached that exact table.

"Your table, madame," the tuxedo-clad man said politely, pulling her chair out for her. "Geoffrey will be your server; he will be with you shortly."

Sam took her seat, nodding her thanks to the host. Her dinner companion finally raised his eyes to hers, and they widened in recognition.

"Major Carter," he murmured, extending his hand across the table.

Sam took it, the frown on her face deepening quickly. "I'm sorry; I understood that you wouldn't know my name, Mr…"

"Giles—Dr. Rupert Giles," the Englishman replied, his lips quirking up into a smile. "And I didn't know you were coming; I assumed it would be Dr. Jackson."

"He was delayed at the last moment, so I was sent in his place," Sam explained. "So how _do_ you know my name?"

Rupert's smile broadened. "We nearly met in another hotel dining room once—in Colorado Springs. You were meeting someone else, and you assumed I was that someone."

Sam's frown cleared. "The Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs. I remember now; that dining room was a little more…unkempt…than this one."

Her companion chuckled. "Just a tad. And I recall you were less than pleased with the man you were actually meeting."

Sam blushed slightly. "That was very unprofessional of me. But he turned out to be quite an asset to our operation, so I guess it was worth the aggravation."

Rupert nodded. "I understand. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you under better circumstances, Major."

"Please, Dr. Giles, call me Sam." Her blue eyes sparkled at him as she began to smile. "Other than meeting with you, I would say I'm on a bit of a vacation. The last time I was in London was nearly ten years ago, and I'm determined to have a wonderful time."

"Perhaps, after we conduct our business, you wouldn't mind some…company…whilst you explore the city," Rupert ventured, returning her smile hesitantly. "Of course, you probably already have plans…"

"I would love some company," Sam replied quickly, surprising herself. Her blush deepened. "Provided it wouldn't be an imposition."

"Not at all, Sam," Rupert replied, thoroughly enchanted. "And please, call me Rupert."


	3. Outside Buckingham

Outside Buckingham

TtH100 prompt # 005 - pets

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Rupert Giles strolled along the pavement at the edge of Hyde Park, still wondering how on earth this could possibly have happened to him. At his side, on the inside of the pavement from the busy street, of course, walked an incredibly gorgeous blonde woman named Major Samantha Carter – or Sam, as she insisted he call her. The look on her face as she gazed across the street at Buckingham Palace was pensive, and Rupert thought that he had never seen a more beautiful thoughtful look in all his life.

"What must it be like to live in a palace, or a succession of palaces, all your life?" Sam asked, shaking her head a little bit. "To have the scrutiny of an entire nation—and a whole bunch of nations outside your own—on you every minute of every day…"

Rupert smiled slightly. "It is understood that, growing up in the royal family, there are things you must do, things you must not do, and things you must tolerate to stay as they are. To do or be anything less is simply unacceptable."

Sam stopped walking and turned to him, a slight frown creasing her forehead. "Do you actually believe that, Rupert? That royalty is born into a life that can't be changed, and that these specific people have special rights that no one else has, just because they belong to a specific family or bloodline?"

"Of course not," Giles scoffed immediately. "There was a time and place for a monarchy like that, far past in Britain's history, but in modern society it's merely fodder for the gossip columns. There is no such thing as merely being entitled to the best that any life could possibly offer."

Sam turned and started walking again, still studying the palace as they drew nearer. She took off her leather jacket, revealing a simple white sleeveless cotton shirt, and Giles felt his heart thump a little more heavily in his chest.

"I suppose the idea does hold a certain amount of romance," Sam mused, slinging the jacket over her shoulder smoothly. Giles' breath hitched in his throat for a moment and then he reminded himself to keep walking. "Having everyone defer to you; having the power and the money to do whatever you want; the thought that if you need something done, you can do it yourself, but you don't have to—you can pay someone else to do it."

She tossed a glance back at Giles, a small smile turning up one corner of her mouth. "That might be nice, don't you think, Rupert?"

Giles returned the smile as he came even with Sam on the pavement. "I think it might have its moments," he agreed, sliding his own jacket off over his arms. "But I also believe it would be horridly tedious and stifling as well."

Sam turned back and looked out over Hyde Park. She gestured to a "No pets" sign on the low fence. "Then again, you could probably take your dog for a walk and let it take a crap in Hyde Park without getting a fine."

Giles felt his eyes widen in surprise at this beautiful, cultured woman's sudden crudeness, but when she turned back to him, he saw the brilliance of her smile and the mischief in her eyes. Suddenly he was reminded of several other young women he'd known in his sojourn as a Watcher—his main charge most of all. "Yes, that would definitely be a perk—you could likely let all of your pets shite wherever they wanted and not have any sort of difficulty with the law."

Sam giggled, her cheeks turning a very pale pink. They continued along the pavement, passing outside Buckingham Palace in companionable silence.


	4. In Covent Garden

In Covent Garden

TtH100 Prompt # 079 – stumble

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Sam leaned on the railing overlooking the crowded open seating area, smiling down at a small group of musicians who had just begun performing. It was two women and two men—two fiddles, one viola, and a cello—playing a piece of classical music that Sam had heard, but couldn't name. They were dressed as any eclectic musician or student might dress—nothing matched, including the socks. But combined with the very energetic dancing they performed while playing their stringed instruments, the performance looked like a constant whirl of color that reminded Sam distinctly of a kaleidoscope.

Sam spared a quick glance for the tall, distinguished gentleman standing beside her. He wasn't leaning on the railing, but he managed to look perfectly relaxed with his straight back and his hands burrowed in his pockets. The uncommonly bright London sunlight reflected briefly off of his spectacles, and when Sam's vision cleared, he was looking at her with a smile on his face.

"Have you ever done anything like that before?" he asked, his voice pitched perfectly to be heard above the crowd and the music, but only so she could hear it.

Sam shook her head. "No, I was always up to my ears in books and sports and Air Force stuff when I was that age. What about you?"

Giles grimaced slightly, but so quickly that Sam immediately doubted she'd even seen it. "No, I had rather a, um…different path of interest back at university. But I've recovered well, I must say."

Sam opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but snapped her jaw shut again as she caught sight of something over Rupert's shoulder. She grinned suddenly, looking back into his eyes with her blue ones, and grabbed his arm.

"I just found something I need to take a closer look at," Sam explained, pulling him gently around as she moved past him. Her hand slid down his arm and came to rest in his hand, and he caught it quickly, keeping their contact as they wove through the crowd. Giles didn't pay any attention to where they were going; his brain was working at capacity as he tried to identify the sensation he was feeling with her hand in his. He didn't even see the overturned chair leg that caught him in the shin; the stumble was almost absentminded, as though Rupert sort of floated through it. Sam didn't seem to notice, but kept her eyes glued on whatever it was she was seeing.

They finally stopped in front of a small shop whose door had a "Be right back!" sign hanging from the knob. Sam, still gripping Rupert's hand, pulled him up next to her and pointed at a picture hanging a little way back from the front window.

"That painting—the one with the nebula—is amazing," Sam breathed, her blue eyes wide. The finger she was pointing touched the glass, pressing against it lightly. "It's so detailed, as though the artist has seen it up close. Like closer than with a telescope."

Rupert watched Sam as she gazed at the painting, and opened his mouth to comment. Just as he did, the annoying ring of his cell phone erupted from his breast pocket, making it look like he had made that noise instead of the phone. He had to let go of Sam's hand to reach into his pocket. Flipping it open, he saw that it was Dawn's emergency phone, so he connected the call, turning slightly away from Sam.

A bright flash distracted him a few moments into the call, and he turned back around to see what it was. Sam was gone as though she'd never been there. Rupert almost dropped his phone in astonishment, and then looked around to see where she could have gone so quickly. He stepped away from the window, saw another smaller flash beside him, and looked down to see a small piece of paper under the bracelet of blue stones that Sam had been wearing. The note read, "Sorry, Rupert—I have to go to work. I'll be in touch soon, and hang onto my bracelet for me."


	5. In Orbit

In Orbit

TtH100 prompt #061 - planet

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Rupert Giles was doing his level best to put Major Samantha Carter out of his thoughts since she had pulled her disappearing act in Covent Garden. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be, considering they lived in different countries and only had occasional email correspondence—through anonymous channels, of course, nothing official. Rupert didn't know for certain what the team to which Dr. Jackson and Sam belonged did for the Air Force, but they were both very tight-lipped about the whole thing. He'd tried countless times, with no success, to see his academic friend Daniel doing archaeological things in any context that the Air Force might want. Rupert had also tried to picture Sam, hunched over a computer or any sort of space telescope, doing endless computations and looking for various star formations in the galaxy. But he couldn't reconcile that extreme academic with the beauty he'd met, talked to, and touched.

The mug of tea in Rupert's hand had gone cold, as many a cup of tea tended to go these days; visions of Sam looking intensely at him, Sam smiling, Sam laughing were constantly in his mind, disturbing both his sleeping and waking hours. Dawn, who was playing at being his research assistant for the moment, had said recently that she'd never seen him quite so distracted.

A muted beeping noise interrupted his musings, coming from the laptop at his left elbow. Rupert heaved a tired sigh, drained the cold tea from the mug, and opened the over-sized, too-expensive gadget Dawn had insisted on setting up for him. The only thing he knew how to do was check his email, but almost everyone, both on the new Council and working for the new Council, had sent him congratulatory emails on moving into the twentieth century. The fact that it was, in fact, the twenty-first century, had not been lost on him.

The email symbol was revolving. Rupert double-clicked on it and the page opened quickly, revealing one new email. It was from Sam, and Rupert had the irrational feeling that her email had come in response to his wishful summons—as though he were an orbiting body drawing her light to himself.

Rupert,

By the time you get this, I'll be gone on a mission that may take a while. I probably won't have any contact with the outside world while I'm gone, so I wanted to let you know why I won't be answering any of your emails for at least a week, if not a couple of months.

In the meantime, I trust that you still have my bracelet. I promise that as soon as I am back from this mission that I will set up a little vacation time to visit London—you can show me the British Museum, and I can buy you dinner for being so nice as to be my own personal tour guide.

Sam

Rupert smiled at the thought of showing Sam the British Museum, the building where he'd toiled for so many years before he'd become Buffy's Watcher.

"Provided she doesn't fall of the face of the planet, of course," he murmured, shutting the laptop carefully.


	6. By The Lake

By The Lake

TtH100 prompt #060 – lake

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

The alkesh had landed badly, jolting to a halt—and its final resting place—several football field-lengths away from where it had first hit the ground. Sam was thrown from her seat, but managed to land on the floor without hurting herself too badly. There was what she was quite sure was a livid purple bruise on her forehead (without any concussion symptoms), as well as a very painfully sprained left wrist. After she assessed the damage to the ship and determined it wouldn't be flying again, Sam had packed up all the supplies she could in a pack and struck out on foot toward where she thought the nearest village was. The planet had an odd electrical field, which meant that there wasn't a compass to tell her exactly which direction to follow. Thankfully, the reddish sun rose approximately in the east and set approximately in the west, which was definitely helpful.

Sam made her way through the trees carefully but quickly, keeping her eyes and ears open. Shadows looked longer and darker, and even her footsteps sound different.

Something moved off to her left; Sam took another step and crouched behind the nearest tree. She pointed her zat, the only weapon she had on this mission, toward the movement and waited.

A set of eyes peering from around a tree several meters away met hers; the eyes were attached to a young boy, perhaps ten or twelve years old. Sam lowered the zat slowly and stood up. The boy followed her movement and they stepped out from behind their respective trees together.

"I'm Sam," she stated, a smile starting on her lips; the boy's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. He said something back to her, but she didn't understand him at all. She repeated her name, pointing to herself; the boy nodded, pointed back at her, and said, "Sam." He smiled back at her, and then turned away from her without a word. He looked back over his shoulder as he walked, and gestured for her to follow him when he saw she hadn't moved.

The boy, his hair as black as Sam's was blond, led her through the trees and the underbrush for nearly an hour before they came to what at first looked like a clearing. A group of small cabins clustered together under the cover of tree branches. Sam followed her guide around these cabins, past other people who resembled the boy. Everyone smiled and called some sort of greeting to them, which the boy cheerfully returned.

Through another short stand of trees, Sam saw the shimmer of a lake. To her relief, the boy led her straight to the lake. A group of women was standing there, as if they were waiting for her. They took her into the circle of their arms, tended to her hurts, bathed her, and tucked her into a soft pallet in one of the cabins as the red sun disappeared behind the trees. Sam fell asleep almost immediately as exhaustion took over, and the last thing she thought of was that it might be a while before she could claim her bracelet from Rupert.


	7. What the Devil?

What the devil??

For TtH100 prompt # 050 – devil

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Rupert Giles used his key to open the front door of the new temporary Watchers Council building; it was an old, somewhat decrepit storefront in East London. Thankfully, the area had cleaned up quite a bit since his school days, and nearly everyone coming in and out of the neighborhood had either a measure of martial arts training, or they were Slayers. Would-be criminals didn't stand a chance.

Giles closed and locked the door behind him—no use inviting an issue, trained or not—and ambled to the kitchen in the rear of the building, reading the day's headlines from the newspaper in his hand. Just as he reached for the kitchen door, it swung open away from him, and Major Samantha Carter nearly stepped out into his arms.

"Samantha!" he exclaimed, stepping back slightly to avoid colliding with her. Then he took a closer look and noticed her alarmingly disheveled appearance. "Are you all right? What the devil are you doing here?"

Sam reached up and tried to smooth her blonde hair, thick with mud. She dropped her hand with a slight shrug as the gesture was clearly not going to do any good. "I'm fine, Rupert," she replied, her cracked lips curving into a smile. "I thought my ride dropped me in the wrong place, since I didn't know whose kitchen this was, but since you're here, I'm thinking I'm actually in the right place. You see…"

Sam trailed off as she watched Rupert's eyebrows draw together sternly. A thin trickle of blood slid from one of the cracks on Sam's lower lip as she pressed her lips together. Rupert took her arm carefully and propelled his impromptu guest toward the back bathroom, also known as the Stitchery to Slayers and Slayers-in-training alike. It looked like Sam might need some stitching to keep her in one piece.

"For the moment, yes, you're in the right place. I know a bit about first aid, my dear, and it looks like you could use a little of it." Rupert snapped on the light and deposited Sam in the chair next to the sink. "We can talk about why my kitchen could be the 'right place' later."


	8. Hiding Something

Hiding Something

TtH100 Prompt #056. Drinking

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Rupert gently pressed a waterproof bandage over the last set of stitches he'd put in Samantha's left forearm. "There. Now you can get cleaned up. Be sure to keep those bandages in place, and if you feel the stitches pull—"

Sam nodded and stood up with a hand on Rupert's shoulder for balance. "If I feel the stitches pull, stop whatever it is I'm trying to do. I've done this before, Rupert—I'll make sure that I don't undo any of your lovely handiwork."

Sam gave him a wry smile, marred by ointment-soothed cracks. He couldn't help but smile back at her. No matter how many layers of dirt covered her, Samantha Carter was one of those women whose smile was very nearly irresistible. Rupert didn't even try. Still smiling, he pulled a clean towel from the shelf behind him and handed it to her.

"The hot water heater is a bit old, but it works very well," he explained, gesturing toward the bathtub behind them. "I'll just be…out in the kitchen, drinking my tea."

Sam's smiled grew even wider, and the hand on his shoulder tightened. "Thanks, Rupert. I'll clean up, and then we can…"

"We can discuss how you ended up in my kitchen, instead of home in Colorado," Rupert interrupted, grinning back at her. Sam's smile dimmed slightly, and she quickly looked away and gestured at the tub.

"But bath first, of course," Sam said. Rupert nodded and left the room.

A nice long bath--long enough to come up with a plausible story so he doesn't think I'm hiding something, Sam thought, then immediately chuckled. As if there will be any question whether I'm hiding something—it'll more likely be WHAT I'm hiding.


	9. A Slayer Runs Through It

A Slayer Runs Through (It)

A Slayer Runs Through (It)

TtH100 Prompt #006. Blood

By lindseyjo

No profit made; characters belong to Mutant Enemy and the Stargate people, respectively.

Sam opened the door to the bathroom and looked out into the hallway before she stepped out, leaving her damp, blood bedaubed towel hanging from the rack on the back of the door. She'd filled the bathtub twice in order to get clean; the first tubful had turned almost black within a minute of her submerging herself. With some concerted scrubbing, she'd gotten all the dirt chiseled off the first time around, and then emptied and cleaned out the filthy bathtub before filling it again for what she thought of as the cleaning cycle.

But her blonde hair was shining and squeaky clean, and her skin glowed from sun exposure and scrubbing with soap, so when she walked back into the kitchen, Rupert couldn't keep a delighted smile from his face.

"Much better, my dear," he said, standing up to put the kettle back on the stove. "You hardly look the worse for wear."

Sam perched on one of the stools around the large table, smirking at him slightly. "Thank you, Rupert, but I think you're exaggerating slightly. I feel like I've just scrubbed my skin with sandpaper and then washed it with lye."

Rupert turned away to hide his broadening smile, reaching into the doorless cupboard above the stove to grab another mug. "Perhaps you should add that to your usual beauty routine now and again, as it looks to agree with you quite well." He managed to wipe the smile from his face before he turned back around and saw the good natured glare on her face. Before Sam had a chance to answer, however, the kitchen door swung open and crashed against the wall with a bang, startling Sam back up to her feet and into an automatic defensive stance.

"Giles, I got the soup and the crackers and the veggies and the bread like you asked, and then I decided to get some brownies, because what person in their right mind would turn down brownies as delectable as these, with the nuts and the fudge pieces and all the chocolate sprinkles? Even if they were allergic to chocolate or nuts these brownies would be well worth the anaphylactic shock," the dark-haired teenaged girl babbled as she raced into the room, laden with several bags. She skidded to a stop right beside the table, barely managing to keep the soup container upright and unceremoniously dumping the other packages across the table.

"Gotta go train, thanks for the coffee, Giles, see ya later, pretty lady!"

The girl sped around the table and exited from the outside door at the back just as quickly as she'd entered, with another banging of the door before it slammed shut behind her. Sam slowly sat back down, and turned to Rupert with her eyebrows raised.

"What in the world was that?" she asked as the kettle started to whistle. Rupert sighed and shook his head.

"That was Kennedy."


End file.
